How Do You Live Aboard ? A Game We Can All Learn from . . .

[Tori]

Originally Posted by capngeo

On land now... But for 7 years, a 28' Bertram was home. I had just about everything as far as amenities. I lived with a Macaw named Tabasco, dockside at a tiki bar, i was single and did my best to keep the local island women happy... Ahh to be young again!

Lmao too funny! I have heard tale of your macaw in another thread

[dupek]

Does any one where I can "park" my boat in Jacksonville,FL ( or close) for free?.
I am going to pick up my boat (1978 27 feet Watkins) tomorrow. It will be for few months.

[osirissail]

There is a mooring field at Southern Dry Docks off the south end of Reynolds Marina in Green Cove Springs area. There is also anchoring north of there. You might investigate that.

[dupek]

Thanks. Will check this.

[Bill S]

Lived aboard for 14 months now. Actively Cruise and move most of the time, marinas, mooring balls & anchor.

No pets anymore, just girlfriend. We have a TV over the bed and one in the main cabin with DVD players. We rent DVDs from the harbor we are in if there is a DVD rental place left. Have a pretty good stereo with a lot of music and two guitars. Also, two computers. Have a ham radio. Internet comes from Wi-Fi in harbor or air card in the states. Have a lot of tools on board.

What we wish we had room for but don't is a washing machine & dryer & a kayak. Have a good outboard and use the dinghy to explore around where moored.

Bill

[zeehag]

lived on board since 1990 mostly with cat or cats---they are great on board as they do find stuff needing to be addressed--anyhting moving besides cat and me is not desirable, he finds and destroys, as well as early warning for storms and people arriving and passing.... gooood kitty---and i live on board now from place to place ----am kinda a minimalist, but i do have engine and will have air cond--still no fridge...might have freezer..LOL....DO need to mend jib so i can still sail.....living on board is easy--is doing lil things like jerry jugging water and fuel that isnt so easy....staying on a dock in hurrycame season--cant wait to leave dock and be anchored again. miss the exercise i get from kayaking and rowing.....and bubba misses the exercise he gets when not leashed due to being on docks. anchored he is free-- docked i keep him on board. too many things to kill cats out of the safety of on board protection.
NO tv--just puter when i have the signals---wifi isnt always reliable, despite strength of signalz.

[cruisingkyra]

Ok so I am curious how others live aboard and have their boats set up. What amenities do you have tv, cable, Internet etc.
In the post state where you live on the dock or on the hook? Fresh or salt, states or elsewhere, sail or power? How long living aboard? Size of boat, number of people and pets and what amenities you have to make life comfortable. I for one am curious and think we can all learn from this. If possible post pics but make them honest don't stage them. Oh and also do you just live aboard or do you take the boat out?

I'll play!
We've lived on our sailboat for nearly 4 years on the Canadian West Coast. We stay at the dock when we work, but go out a lot. Yep, we sail year-round in the NW Pacific (Winter Sailing has its own charms, really.) We prefer anchoring. Our boat is 36', narrow beam: 9.6'.

There are two of us. We don't have a TV. Watch DVD's occasionally on mini-player or laptop. Use wireless internet through our cell phone provider for now. (Switching to Bitstorm WIFI as we're heading to warmer climes this Fall. Mexico!)

What have we done to make it more comfortable? Foam pads on berth cushions, Colourful paintings on locker doors, photos etc (Our boat is a cozy haven, and friends hang out here a lot whether it's summer or winter).
It's a simple set-up: hot water comes from a kettle, we have foot pumps (no pressure water), we shower ashore at the marina or do solar shower in cockpit/sponge baths in cabin when it's too cold. We make good coffee? We read a lot. Work on our boat. Explore. It really is a good life.

And we'll be going offshore in a month with our home... That's about it.

[Tori]

Love all the replies so far! Who has some pics of the interiors of your boats? Also for those of you who live aboard and don't have regular forty hour a week jobs how do you make money? Retirement? Savings? I know this money subject has been discussed a thousand times but my findings here locally both on the IC and St Johns is that most live aboards on sail boats have regular jobs and rarely take the boat out. Most liveaboards on house boats are retired and also rarely go out... Not many sail boat live aboards? Only two here counting us

[virginia boy]

I'm trying to post a pic...Damn, I shoulda went to school like everybody else!

[virginia boy]

Here's another. Sorry about the sideways pic.

[Tori]

Thumbs up!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Tori

..................my findings here locally both on the IC and St Johns is that most live aboards on sail boats have regular jobs and rarely take the boat out................

We are retired and fulltime cruisers, but for the first thirty years we lived aboard we were both public school teachers and cruised to the Bahamas or the Keys during the summers and shorter cruises during spring or Christmas breaks. Having the same vacation times as our children, also allowed for greater use. We also kept our boat ready to leave the dock on short notice so we could go out evenings after work or weekends at whim.

[farotherside]

The young lady and I (ok, not so young, we're both in our early 30's) live aboard our 39' sailing trimaran. In three years we've spent about two months at a dock and the rest at anchor.

For entertainment we have our laptops, iPhones and eBook readers. The boat is wired for always-on internet access using an Ericsson W35 cellphone access point. We take advantage of friends' addictions to downloading movies and the like, and bring over a portable hard drive when we go visiting, stocking up on television entire seasons at a time.

We both work online, but we're leaving in a month to head south with no destination and no schedule. Lots of work before we go though... still have to get the watermaker and the solar panels installed!!

[Honey Ryder]

i have lived on a 45' steel trawler for about 5-7 years. for the first two years i was trying to live with a woman who turned out to be crazy. every time she had a wobble i ended up on the boat for a few days or weeks. eventually she was always wobbling so the boat became my permanent home, and has been for over 5 years now.

amenities include(d) a couple of tvs and dvds, a galley with microwave, oven, pressurized hot and cold water, fridge, freezer (2), two bathrooms including shower and small bath tub (never used), a washer/dryer, central heating, and two cabins.

i am in a marina and have power, but can run my generator when i'm cruising.

about a year ago i decided to make some changes. decided i did not need two small bathrooms and two small cabins. i ripped out the galley in the saloon and intend to move it up into the pilothouse. now the saloon is for lounging and watching tv. i've installed real furniture and laid reclaimed teak floors (inch thick). it can double up as a cabin too as the sofa is very comfortable to sleep on.

a very kind and skilled and generous friend is showing me how to do all this, and he is the boss with very good ideas so i follow his lead. we've just finished building wrap around seating (and storage) on the foredeck which looks great and is extremely functional.

am now in the process of blasting the interior of the hull prior to painting and then re-fitting with all new wiring, heating, floors, plumbing and lighting.

am hoping that by christmas she will be done inside. next year intend to build some wood decks and erect a mast with a loose fitted gaff rig.

when all done she will have a dual purpose pilothouse - steering console plus galley/diner, step down into a saloon with sofa and tv, and a large open plan cabin down below with a good sized bathroom incl shower.

i have cruised from london to france and belgium and around the south coast of england. my dream is to get her into good shape so that i can go anywhere at 1500rpm with the trades pushing me along too. the ultimate cruise would have to be around the world. i'd love to do what kon tiki did and sail across the pacific, utilizing the currents and the prevailing winds, might not even need my diesel if i'm lucky!

[jSnyder]

I'll play, I also live in an S2 8.0 but mine is a center cockpit with a centerboard, don't really have many amenities at this time but I'm working on it. just a small camping stove, for cooking, and an ice box. I have a 22 inch lcd monitor for watching movies and a laptop. use free wifi when available, Just me aboard at the moment although my daughter has camped over a few times. I don't have any pets at the moment though i would like one eventually. I've only lived aboard since may when i finished paying for the boat. right now im at a slip in lake michigan, but plan to take the boat down to Florida at some point as my whole family lives there. I have been thinking about an AC for the hatch it does get kinda hot on board sometimes. I'll try to get somepics uploaded hopefully.